The concept of Ijtihad, its legitimacy, need and importance in the present age

According to the fiqh, Ijtihad is the name of effort and to boost once capacity to discover shariah ruling about a new situation in the light of Quran and Sunnah. Islam allowed Muslims to continuously adopt the changing conditions and advances the society through the process of Ijtihad. Quran has given the fundamental principles and Muslim scholars must interpret these principles wisely in the light of Quran and Sunnah, in accordance with the spirit of time in which we live. Research problem regarding Ijtihad is, there are two extremes about the concept of Ijtihad. Some modern thinkers and philosophers have misinterpreted the principle of Ijtihad, they think that every person having little knowledge of Islamic teachings is eligible to do Ijtihad and there are no conditions and principles for doing Ijtihad. On the other hand, some keep themselves limited with Quran and Sunnah. In this paper we have given the concept of Ijtihad according to the venerable Ulema-e-Fiqh. In this research article, it is tried to describe the real concept, authenticity of Ijtihad and the evolutionary aspect of Ijtihad in Muslim society, and about the importance of Ijtihad to address the needs of Muslim societies with reference of contemporary world.